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Harry Potter and The World We Know

Heather is a Primary Teacher from Canada who is currently working in London through Protocol Education. Back on the topic of Harry Potter, Heather explores how children can relate to children in the books and use it as a means of self-discovery.

The magical world of Harry Potter is easy to get caught up in – especially if you’re at the age of 12-18 when you’re at a time in your life where you’re just unsure of yourself, and you’re beginning to question where your place is in the world.

By displacing Harry Potter as a character without parents, who’s forced to live in an unkempt space and overshadowed by arrogant and cruel people, we automatically feel a sense of compassion with the protagonist. To further envelop our admiration for the boy, he has to learn about his past through a new and exciting world to which he forcibly becomes aware of. Sound familiar?

As we travel, or expand on the world we’re exposed to, in our transition to high school from the age of an elementary senior, there are new and exciting schedules to make and requirements to meet. We begin to feel ourselves distancing the person we see ourselves as, from the family which slowly become estranged. Our social lives change, and we begin to thrive on our own and look for what interests us.

Through adapting Harry as an orphan amongst other children who are sent of to Hogwarts, these students are forced to identify with each other and learn through struggles of life experience. In removing the parental constraints, there’s a sense of risk and danger that drives the plot. This also allows students to get into trouble, which is why sometimes parents are surprised to have gotten a detention at their place of study.

Furthermore, the magical element removes us from our societal norms and allows us to escape from the world we’re familiar with, or stressed-out from, and we can reflect on our similarities and experiences through a distorted lens that is offered in these books. Essentially, we are stepping into a fantasy, about a boy – a lost individual, coming to terms with the pressures of the world around him, and learning mind-blowing new realities that include his own self-discovery and solidification in his adapted world.